Blog Archives - Button's Place

Day 118

2/28/2020

Fridays are the hamachi of weekdays. Look it up.
Chemistry students!!! It's time to do some quality review for the Nuclear Chemistry Exam which happens next Tuesday. So, put your phone away, get out a Periodic Table and check out this presentation first:

nuclear_chemistry_review__002_.pptx
File Size:	896 kb
File Type:	pptx

Now, check out this simulation on Isotopes:

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/isotopes-and-atomic-mass/latest/isotopes-and-atomic-mass_en.html

Here is a Nuclear Reactor Simulator. It's kinda technical but you should be able to recognize many of the components of a nuclear reactor.

https://www.nuclearinst.com/Nuclear-Reactor-Simulator

Here is another Nuclear Power Plant simulator:

http://www.nuclearpowersimulator.com/#Start

And another one:

http://playgen.com/nuclear-simulator/

And finally, a Half-Life simulation:

http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/HTML5/halflife.html

Day 117

2/27/2020

Thursdays are the milk chocolate of weekdays. Just OK.
The Chemistry students tried their hand at a practice Nuclear Chemistry Exam today. I didn't feel much like talking today because I got these new invisible teeth aligner things and my mouth was pretty sore. But the students were pretty supportive.
The AP Biology students checked out the end of the Becoming Human video which is really good. Quiz tomorrow!!

Day 116

2/26/2020

Are these freshmen as bad as everyone says they are? Well, they are freshmen so probably yes.
The Chemistry students reviewed the stuff we did yesterday. Alpha decay, beta decay and half-life stuff was the stuff we talked about. Stuff.
The AP Biology students talked about some cladogram type stuff stuff today. And, yes, I did write stuff twice. We have a quiz on cladogram stuff on Friday.

Day 115

2/25/2020

You know how many students do not take advantage of coming in for a make up exam? A lot. Oh well...
The Chemistry students did a bunch of half-life problems today. It was their first look at them and I'm pretty sure most students got the whole thing. The exam for this unit is next week!
The AP Biology students went over the classification of humans which is good. We have a quiz on cladograms this Friday!

Day 114

2/24/2020

I like West Valley but it's not quite as good as Hawaii. Beach-wise, that is.
The Chemistry students did a alpha beta decay kinda review thing with the good ol' Uranium decay series. We graphed the thing as well. You know what I just thought of? That Gladys would be a crappy name to have. I apologize to all the Gladys's out there.
The AP Biology students started the online cladogram thing in the library today. We're gonna have a quiz on this stuff on Friday.

Day 113

2/14/2020

Happy Hallmark Rip Off Day! Let me tell you something. If you ever end up with a romantic partner that makes a big deal about Valentine's Day, dump them immediately. Trust me.
The Chemistry students finished up a discussion on nuclear power plants. Then we saw what happens when a huge earthquake and a tsumani hits a nuclear power plant.
The AP Biology students finished their work on DNA sequences and the BLAST computer program. Cladograms are easy and fun. Oh, brother.
Now I'm going to Hawaii.

Day 112

2/13/2020

A lot of kids were gone today. I bet even more are gone tomorrow.
The Chemistry students learned about Nuclear Power Plants today. A big good luck to the students who didn't pay attention today or weren't here. They're gonna need it.
The AP Biology students worked with BLAST today which is a computer program that allows you to compare DNA sequences to sequences found in a huge database. It's pretty cool.

Day 111

2/12/2020

Today was the school-wide write which is appropriately abbreviated SWW. This will be the last time I participate in the SWW. It needs work. Most people agree with that. I tell you what - freshmen cannot write. Or spell.
As it was also a Collaboration Day we also talked about a college. Today was San Diego State University.

Day 110

2/11/2020

Day 110?? That means the school year is 11/18ths of the way done!! Only 7/18ths left to go!!
The Chemistry students finished up the half-life activity from yesterday. We graphed all the results from all classes.
Hey AP Biology students!! Check out these activities (in order) to better understand cladograms and their usefulness.
The Evolution of Flight in Birds

What did T-Rex taste like?

Journey into Phylogenetic Systematics

Day 109

2/10/2020

The beginning of the last week before a cool break for all of us. Personally, I could keep going.
The Chemistry students started the Half-Life Activity which involves 100 pennies, patience and the ability to count. Despite that, a few groups still forgot that 53 + 47 = 100.
The AP Biology students took the Evolution Exam today. Well, not all of them. Gage chickened out.